


The Only One I Love Like This

by ImWithEnjolras



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2016-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-10 16:55:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6965410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImWithEnjolras/pseuds/ImWithEnjolras
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“He asked me to say something...at the reception.” The table falls to silence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only One I Love Like This

**Author's Note:**

> Long time no see! I’ve been stuck in a bit of a writer’s block, so I’m hoping I shook some of it off with this. (With SASO biting on my heels, this is probably the worst time to get stuck lol). It’s not nearly the word count I wanted to hit, but that was something rather insane with the current premise. Anyway, hope you like it!
> 
> Also! I dedicate this to @ mokuba (tumblr) / @ mokubah (twitter) aka k8 who I destroyed with these ideas before the fic came to fruition!

“Asahi’s gettin’ married, huh.” All five friends stare at the pile of wedding invitations in the middle of their table. There’s four: one for Ennoshita, one for Kinoshita, one for Narita, and one for Tanaka and Nishinoya.

“Shit, we’re getting old.” Apart from the noise of ceramic cups scraping against ceramic plates, there is silence. Everyone at this particular table is remembering the recent round of baby shower invites, engagements and their subsequent photoshoots filling their Facebook timelines.

“He asked me to say something...at the reception.” The table falls to silence.

“Shit.” Ennoshita finally breathes out and Narita nods, as if Ennoshita’s interjection required some sort of agreement. 

“Damn.” Kinoshita mutters. “Like a speech?”

“Yeah.” Noya replies, still somewhat in disbelief that he’s actually going to have to do this. He takes a quick glance at Tanaka, but the other man stays oddly quiet, spinning his fork on the table as he stares quietly through the window.

“He’ll be great,” Tanaka turns and gives Noya a small smile, “If there’s anyone who knows Asahi-san, it’s Yuu.” 

Noya feels whatever grip that’s around his heart loosen a little bit as he reaches for Tanaka’s hand underneath the table.

 

* * *

 

The greatest romance of Azumane Asahi’s life came in the form of Datekou’s  Aone Takanobu. There’s a lot of versions of ‘officially’ they met here’s and ‘officially’ they started dating there's, but Noya is the one of the few who knows the exact truth. They met at that fateful volleyball match that tested the strength and dedication of the Karasuno Volleyball Team.

When it came to Aone, Asahi’s curiosity could only be described as uncharacteristically insatiable. Through the friends of friends of friends, Asahi learned as much about Aone as he could. It was by mere chance that Asahi got on the train that Aone was riding home. From then on, Asahi tried to time his return trips with Aone’s.

And it would have carried on for months like this, had Noya not told Asahi to just man up and sit beside Aone. Afterall, according to Asahi, there was always a free seat beside the Datekou middle blocker.

So he did and the rest, as they say, was history.

 

* * *

 

Tanaka doesn’t so much as walk in as he stumbles in at some stupid hour in the early morning. He’s humming some song he heard Noya playing once maybe three months ago and Noya only knows this because he only ever played that song three months ago. Maybe it’s a song by Adele, but they don’t play Adele any more in this apartment because three months ago, Adele had been banned from their apartment.

It has absolutely nothing to do with them blasting it at midnight as they sang to Adele’s sad tunes very, very off-key.

His ass, Noya hypothesizes, has probably become one with the computer chair he is currently sitting on. Noya’s thankful for the interruption because the brightness of the computer screen was hurting his eyes and it’s not like the blinky thing on Microsoft Word was making any progress. Noya’s speech - the document succinctly titled ‘speechuialgnelrlenglaehbgaegna’ - remains quite blank.

“Yuuuuuuuu~!” Noya can practically hear the heart tacked onto the end of Tanaka’s voice. “I’m home, baby!” There’s a couple stumbles, two curse words (“fuckin’ shit”, if you were wondering), and the distinct sound of Tanaka dropping his shoes onto the genkan. The downstairs neighbours are going to have a couple words with them in the morning. 

“Welcome home!”

“I brought a friend beeeeee-cause I gotta go peeeeeeee!” That makes absolutely no sense to Noya’s very sober mind, but he loves Tanaka enough to overlook the lack of logic. When he looks up, he immediately takes back the idea of him being thankful for Tanaka’s interruption.

“Asahi.” The tall man sways in place a little, leaning against the wall as Tanaka pushes himself from under Asahi’s arm. 

“Pee pee pee! I gotta pee!” Tanaka takes one step forward before quickly glancing at Asahi. “You.” He points at Asahi’s face. “Wait right here.” He then points to the living room floor. “Pee then wash my hands because I’m both a good boy and not a barbarian!” 

Tanaka takes a few stumbling steps forward before grabbing Noya’s cheeks between both hands. “Ryu--”

“Love you!” Tanaka immediately bends forward and kisses Noya. Strange. For a second, Tanaka looked completely lucid for someone who had been out drinking five hours. But before Noya can put any more thought into it, Tanaka’s skipped away to the bathroom. 

“O-Oops…” Tanaka’s done a good job of momentarily distracting Noya, but Asahi has a way of making himself known in a room without even trying. Noya turns to find Asahi taking a closer look at the pictures he and Tanaka have pinned all over their bulletin board. Asahi is gingerly picking up one of the many plushie keychains they’ve collected over the years off of the floor. “Sorry…”

Noya gulps, a barrage of memories hitting him all at the same time: of words left unsaid, feelings left unknown, of love left unrequited. “N-No prob--”

Asahi interrupts whatever Noya was going to say, but Noya doesn’t know if he did it on purpose or if Asahi just couldn’t hear him. Was he even speaking loudly enough? “You and Ryuu have had quite the fun time, huh?”

Noya can’t help the warm smile that finds its way across his face just thinking about all the things he and Tanaka have experienced since graduating high school. “Yeah..”

Asahi takes two steps back, staring at the picture framed right beside their computer. It’s a photo of the day Tanaka took Noya to his family’s house up north, to celebrate their 100 days. It was a great day; Tanaka’s unique way of wining and dining Noya.

And in the light of a setting red-orange sun, Tanaka told Noya he loves him for the first time, with shaking knees and sweaty palms. It’s a fond memory, one that’s seared into his brain for all eternity because it is just that important. 

Despite his appearance, Tanaka has always been unusually careful with his words. Sure he had his outbursts pre-game, but he is meticulous with his word choice when he wants to express something particularly important. And Noya remembers the exact way and the precise expression Tanaka had when he said “I love you” for the first time.

But, again, Asahi just has this way of making his presence known.

“You know, in high school, I was in love with you, Noya.” 

Noya stops breathing, all fond memories of that day with Tanaka come to a halt. All the feelings he had for Asahi which he had so carefully considered then reconsidered before putting away come rushing back to him. All the things Noya had left unsaid because Asahi had so early met the one he knew he was going to spend the rest of his life with.

Noya does what any sensible person who just found out his old high school first-love reciprocated his very secret feelings, at least at some point in his teenaged years, would do. He leans forward and gives Asahi one, solid…

...karate chop to the gut. 

“G-Gah!” Asahi bends in half, immediately grabbing his abdomen. Noya exhales loudly from his nose.

“Don’t say shit like that, Asahi!” He shouts, far too loudly for three in the morning. “That is disrespectful to Takanobu-san!” 

Asahi shoots up at the mention of Aone’s name. There’s this big, dumb grin across his face. Asahi only ever gets dopey like this when Aone is mentioned and no matter how many times this happens, nobody is ever really used to it. It’s almost a little scary, to be honest 

“My Nobu..” he sighs, visibly getting lost in his thoughts. “Takano…” Asahi doesn’t stifle his yawn, but Noya can’t help smiling a little at how dopey and uninhibited Asahi has become after a night out with Tanaka. Asahi gently pats his cheeks. “I’m getting married, Noya! To the love of my life!”

Noya can’t stop his laugh. Asahi is basically vibrating in place out of excitement, about one step away from throwing his hands into the air and shouting ‘woohoo!’. “Yep, you are! So don’t be a dumb shit!”

For some reason, Asahi starts stretching in their living room. “Okay. I’m going home.” He’s completely forgotten Tanaka’s orders to stay right there. “Nobu’s waiting!” Noya smiles, not bothering to tell Asahi to at least wait for Tanaka. “Thanks, Noya!” Asahi stumbles as he slips his shoes on and Noya snorts, hearing Asahi humming The Wedding March under his breath. 

Asahi is still humming The Wedding March as the door clicks shut behind him.

The whirr of their computer cuts loudly through the silence of their apartment. Noya’s still in that mindspace of “what ifs” and all he can really scoop out is that Asahi had the same feelings for him as Noya had for Asahi. He’s still so absorbed in these thoughts so he doesn’t hear the creak of that one loose floorboard and doesn’t notice Tanaka stepping into the room.

“Yuu? Where’s--” Tanaka drops the rest of his sentence with one glance at Noya’s face.

“Ryuu I--” What is he staring at? Tanaka’s gaze doesn’t stray at all from Noya’s face and once Noya presses his palms against his cheeks, he realizes why.

Tears spread across from underneath his palms and suddenly he can hear all the sounds he had blocked out earlier. Noya sits gasping and heaving in his seat, trying to quell the tears rushing down his face.

“I-I was in love with him, Ryuu.” Noya splutters. “I was in love with Asahi.”

Tanaka, for the most part, stays still. Quietly shuffling in place as Noya’s sobs quiet down. He wants to reach out and hold Noya, but he knows that the other isn’t quite ready for that yet.

“I-I…” Tanaka starts, much too quiet for the Tanaka that Noya knows and loves. “I knew that...you loved him...did you think I wouldn’t?” Noya wipes his eyes with the backs of his hands, Tanaka coming into focus. His face must be scrunched up into some weird confused look because Tanaka does that thing that makes his gaze go all gentle and sweet which makes Noya’s heart race a mile a minute. “You looked at him like...like god made the sun shine outta his ass.”

Noya felt his jaw drop, but did nothing about it. “I...did..?”

Tanaka sighs, faking his nonchalance. “I guess I just...knew a lot about you..” Noya knows this face Tanaka is making. Noya is familiar these movements. This is the result of years and years of being by Tanaka’s side and committing to memory every single aspect and nuance of Tanaka Ryuunosuke. “B-But...we’re together now and the Yuu that I am in love with...wouldn’t be with someone he didn’t truly love.” Tanaka pauses. Noya knows every single one of Tanaka’s tells, his expressions, his speech patterns, every familiar little tick. The stutter in his voice tells Noya that Tanaka is nervous. The way he looks away from Noya, let’s him know that Tanaka is trying to keep himself from crying.

And the way his hands are wringing in front of him?

Tanaka’s fucking terrified. Terrified that Noya’s going to tell him he’s wrong. Terrified that Noya’s going to run after Asahi and leave him, just like before. 

“Right?”

For the second time in this early morning, Noya gets lost in his own memories. He remembers how he fell in love with Tanaka. How hard and fast he had fallen for his best friend. He remembers how nervous he had been when he resolved to actually confess to Tanaka. He remembers how he agonized over the decision, but knowing that this is the one thing he could not and would not let slip past his fingers. All those late nights trying to figure out exactly how to tell his best friend, undoubtedly the most important person in the entire world, that he was stupidly in love with him and more than ready to be best-friends-turned-boyfriends. Noya remembers all those jitters, how he tried to reenact some of the greatest scenes in shoujo manga he had ever read, how badly those turned out. 

And he remembers shouting at the sky before bodily pulling Tanaka to the other side of the field. Noya had never been that nervous before: not in any exam, not at the Nationals, not at their first game without their senpais, and not even when it came to loving Asahi.

Noya remembers a lot. He remembers all those feelings, all that trepidation, and the heartbreak that was Azumane Asahi. But most importantly, he remembers all the good things, the joy, the warmth, and the love he experienced with Tanaka Ryuunosuke. That Tanaka Ryuunosuke gave him.

Noya gave a lot of his love to Asahi. That’s the truth. Asahi took a lot of Noya’s love. But Tanaka gave him so much more. Tanaka gave Noya more than he could ever ask for, more than he could ever need. The way that Tanaka loves him is incomparable. There’s no one in the world like Tanaka; there’s no one who loves him like Tanaka like does. He gave Noya back all the love he spent on Asahi and then some. And, sure, he loved Asahi, but…

But Noya could never love anyone like he loves Tanaka.

“You’re the only one I love like this, Ryuu.” Tanaka’s body visibly relaxes, a sigh shakily flowing from his lips, like he’s been holding his breath this whole time. (If you ask Tanaka, he totally wasn’t breathing). A corner of Tanaka’s lips quirks up and Noya curses internally that this man can still be so fucking attractive after so many hours of drinking followed swiftly by such emotional turmoil.

“Then I guess this isn’t such a bad time to ask you this.” Tanaka pulls something out of his pocket before getting down on one knee. Noya swears that everything comes to a screeching fucking halt.

Tanaka doesn’t even get to ask because Noya barrels forward, full-body tackling him to the ground. “Yes! Yes! Yes! One trillion times yes!”

The neighbours can definitely hear him but Noya honestly doesn’t give a damn. 

He presses kisses wherever his lips can reach on Tanaka’s face. Noya knows he’s crying again, but he doesn’t care, doesn’t care for how ugly he thinks he looks right now, doesn’t care for how he can taste the salt of his tears. All he cares about is the man in his arms who just asked him to spend the rest of their lives together. They’re crying and laughing and kissing and it’s so  _ dumb _ but they’re so in love and nothing else matters any more. 

And then..

With a gasp, Noya leaps up to get back on the computer chair.

“I know what I’m going to say now!” Noya’s grin is almost feral as he raises his hands comically over the keyboard. Tanaka remains on the floor, leaning up on his elbows.

“Please don’t say that I said the sun shone out of Asahi’s ass, Yuu!” With a sharp turn, Noya smirks down at Tanaka.

“No worries. I know exactly where the sun shines.” He’s diligently typing on the keyboard now, cutely sticking out his tongue in concentration.

“What in the fuck…” 

Noya pauses for dramatic effect. “God made the sun shine out of your dick made of gold, miracles, happiness, and orgasmic wonder!” Tanaka’s jaw drops as Noya throws his head back, cackling. 

Tanaka screams and both men disregard the several sharp knocks they hear from the wall they share with the Ishidas.  
  


 

* * *

 

 

Omake: 

Just a few short hours later, Tanaka and Noya are woken up by the incessant ringing of their doorbell. Noya leaps up from where they fell asleep (on the couch, with Noya sprawled on top of Tanaka, a new shiny ring on his ring finger) to go answer the door. Tanaka follows sleepily behind him, cutely rubbing his eyes.

The pair are greeted by the young Ishidas from next door. “Good morning!” Ishida Mimi grins, elbowing her husband into a grumbled greeting.

“You guys were too noisy for 3AM.” Ishida Yamato glares, but Noya snorts. Tanaka’s glare was much scarier.

Besides. Mimi was definitely the scarier of the two. “Oh hush now, Yama-chan! Tanaka-kun has been incredibly successful; you shouldn’t be such a sourpuss!” In her hands she has a small cake, the icing on top delicately spelling out ‘Congratulations!’. “I’m so happy for you two! And it looks very good on you Noya-kun!”

Tanaka smiles sheepishly, quickly ducking into Noya’s hair for a quick kiss. “Thank you very much, Mimi-chan.”

Noya wraps his arms around Tanaka’s waist as the taller of the two reaches out to accept the Ishida’s gift. “Oh this is nothing! I’m so very glad all your hard work paid off, Tanaka-kun.”

Despite his earlier sour disposition, Yamato has a small smile on his face. “All the best.” Both Noya and Tanaka watch as Yamato turns to gaze warmly at Mimi. “Come on, let’s leave these lovebirds be, sweetheart.”

Mimi bows in farewell. “Okay, but let’s go on a double date one time! Oh! And thank you for your advice on that thing we talked about last time, Tanaka-kun! Yama-chan really loves it”

Yamato trips on his own feet before hurriedly ushering a giggling Mimi back into their apartment. Tanaka can’t even hold back his chuckles. 

“What thing?” Noya asks once they shut the door. He places his feet on top of Tanaka’s, forcing Tanaka to walk back to the living room for the both of them.

“Oh...well...she helped me design the ring so I…” Tanaka’s face quickly turns red. “Well she said she..uh..wanted to try spicing things up with Yamato-kun? So I…uh...told her about the uh...you know that thing you like? With my tongue and---”

Tanaka groans, highly embarrassed that he’s even trying to verbally explain exactly what he does to Noya with his tongue. Noya giggles loudly, pushing Tanaka back onto the couch, quickly straddling his lap. “Ooooh yes, I do love that!” Noya leans forward to kiss Tanaka - kisses which go from cute to spicy at mach 6 speed. “But maybe I need some reminding?”

Well.

Noya didn’t need to ask Tanaka twice.


End file.
